


Honored Memories

by SpaceBunBun



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 10:21:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30070791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceBunBun/pseuds/SpaceBunBun
Summary: Ahh, I was able to participate in A Brighter Dawn: An Edelthea Zine!! I'm so happy that I was able to! We were given the go ahead to post my full piece! I had so much fun being able to write this piece and for one of my fave FE3H ships!Leftover sale is going on now: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BlackEagleZineForce?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=967116396
Relationships: Dorothea Arnault/Edelgard von Hresvelg
Kudos: 8





	Honored Memories

Edelgard was frustrated. She had watched the preparation of this dish—a chocolate cake with cinnamon frosting—multiple times, and had tasted it more times than that. It was one of her favorites, but more importantly, it was one of her deceased sister’s favorite treats. Her sister had made it often when they were younger, and it always tasted fantastic. Her sister would always wake her up to take her to the kitchen, and when they arrived, the kitchen always smelled like rich chocolate and cinnamon.

But whenever Edelgard prepared it, it always tasted like garbage. Scratch that, garbage tasted better. Edelgard wrinkled her nose when the kitchen started to smell like burnt cattle. Nervously, she took a bite of the cake and started to gag and choke at the burnt metal flavor. She spat the cake into the sink. Edelgard let out an annoyed sigh that reached to the ears of her beloved wife, Dorothea.

“Oh, Edie, what’s with the long sigh?” Dorothea giggled.

Edelgard dumped her cake into the trash and washed her hands before answering. “I’m just a little upset.” She slumped over the counter.

“You always are. What’s new?”

“Dorothea,” she sighed.

Dorothea let out a little chuckle. “I’m only teasing. What’s wrong?”

Edelgard sighed as her eyebrows furrowed. “I can’t seem to make this cake right. I can’t even get to the  
frosting.”

Dorothea scanned the counter. She could tell this wasn’t the first time she had attempted to make the cake. “Did you follow the instructions?”

“Step by step,” Edelgard said dejectedly.

“Hm.” Dorothea tapped her finger against her chin. “Usually if you follow the instructions perfectly, the food should be fine.”

Edelgard stood up straight, her expression changing to irritation. “Are you suggesting that I’m a terrible baker,” she asked, her eyebrow twitching.

Dorothea let out a little nervous laugh. “No, but you are.”

“Then what do you suggest I do?” Edelgard asked through gritted teeth.

Dorothea thought, then snapped her fingers when she came up with an idea. “How about I watch you make the cake, and see if you’re missing something.”

Edelgard sighed. “Fine.”

Dorothea held the cookbook close as she watched Edelgard put all of the dirty dishes into the sink before grabbing clean ones. Dorothea watched her every move, making an occasional correction. The kitchen was starting to smell a lot less like burnt cattle and a lot more like cocoa. During the baking process, Edelgard became distracted by Dorothea’s singing, forgetting that she was baking something. When the cake was done and cooled, it tasted too sweet, like a block of sugar with a hint of cocoa in it.

“Hm, what went wrong?” Dorothea asked, immediately throwing out the cake. “I was watching your every move.”

“I-I don’t know,” Edelgard responded, her face starting to heat up.

Dorothea looked at her with an eager smile. “If I may ask, why is this cake so important to you?”

Edelgard crossed her arms, tapping her right arm with her index finger, and avoided eye contact. Eventually she sighed, and uncrossed her arms. “It was one of my sister’s favorite sweets. It was actually her favorite food. And every year, one of the cooks would make it for her birthday.” She paused, letting out a sorrowful sigh. “And today is her birthday.”

“Oh Edie,” Dorothea murmured. She pulled Edelgard in for a hug, holding her tightly.

“She would take me into the kitchen and show me how to make it,” Edelgard sniffed, nuzzling her head into Dorothea’s chest.

“I’m sorry Edie,” Dorothea apologized, rubbing her back. “I didn’t mean to bring up sad memories.”

“It’s alright,” Edelgard sniffed.

Dorothea hummed her a little tune to help distract her from the memories. She shifted around to place her thumbs near her eyes to wipe away the tears. “Feeling better?”

“I’m fine,” Edelgard reassured her. “If I were to wallow in my pain, I wouldn’t be honoring my sister’s memory very well.”

“What matters most is you remembered her,” Dorothea said gently.

“Yes, she’d want me to be happy and spend time with my loved ones” Edelgard smiled.

“Hehe, well, we can always go do fun things,” Dorothea said, a grin slowly emerging on her face, “like maybe go to an opera.”

“No opera!” Edelgard said emphatically. “I’m still embarrassed from the last performance.”

Dorothea let out a little chuckle. “Then what would you like to do?”

“Why don’t we go shopping? My sister would always take me to one of the shopping towns after eating cake on her birthday,” Edelgard smiled.

“Oh! That’s a great idea! And we can walk around Enbarr to work up an appetite!” She smiled as she grabbed onto Edelgard’s arm, holding her tightly. “Shall we get going, My Beloved Emperor?”

“Of course, My Empress,” she said softly, placing on top of hers. “But we should sneak out.”

“How scandalous! The Emperor, of all people, with such thoughts,” Dorothea snorted.

Edelgard let out a soft, low chuckle. “Would you like to be caught by Hubert?” she asked in her attempt to tease her.

“Hehe, it’s adorable that you are trying to be sarcastic,” Dorothea said, squishing Edelgard’s face. “But no, no I would not.”

Edelgard laughed a little more as she took Dorothea’s hand. They walked out of the kitchen, walking through the palace halls, avoiding every knight and guard, hiding behind walls, statues, anything. And  
when they saw Hubert, they ran away from him, laughing as he chased them, demanding their destination. Once they stopped running, and when they caught their breath, they realized they were in one of Enbarr’s shopping towns. 

Dorothea once again held onto Edelgard’s arm as they walked through the town. They saw many people dancing, singing, painting, and doing some sort of art. It brought back a flood of memories for Edelgard of when she was with her sister shopping for clothes. When Edelgard watched the dancers, it reminded her that her sister taught her how to dance. She shook her head, now wasn’t the time to keep remembering her sister. There was someone more important to focus on.

Edelgard held out her hand towards Dorothea, who happily accepted it. The two danced to the beat of the singers, whether it be slow or fast. When the singers sang another slow song, Edelgard placed her head on Dorothea’s chest, listening to her rapid heartbeat. Dorothea fiddled with her hair as she sang in a low tune as she looked around the town. If they could stay like this, Edelgard wouldn’t complain. But alas, Dorothea insisted on going shopping. They walked around and Dorothea had a huge smile on her face as she dragged her into a clothing shop. Edelgard hated shopping for clothes, she would rather shop for anything else, shopping for maps would be more appealing.

Edelgard sat in a chair, near the fitting rooms, legs crossed. She placed her chin in her hand, and impatiently tapped her face as she waited for Dorothea to come back with whatever she could find.

Dorothea walked around the shop, pulling any clothing she liked, in her favorite colors like red, purple and pink.

Edelgard let out a sigh when she brought back a plethora of different clothes. “What is the point of all of this?”

“Why would there need to be a point?” Dorothea asked, hiding the truth.

Edelgard raised an eyebrow. “You know I don’t like shopping for clothes, so there must be one.”

“Fine, you caught me,” she said, flailing her arms around. “You only have a few outfits and it’s sad. Her Majesty should have whatever she wants! It gets uninspiring to the people when they see their Emperor wearing the same outfit over and over again.”

“I see. I never thought of it that way,” Edelgard sighed. “You also sounded much like Hubert,” she teased.

Dorothea repeated her words in a deeper voice to mock him. A nice little laugh came out of Edelgard’s mouth that made Dorothea laugh herself. It was a little while before they stopped laughing and before Edelgard tried on some clothes. Edelgard modeled the outfits that Dorothea liked, but she hated first, and then she wore the outfits she liked but Dorothea hated. They bickered back and forth on which outfits they agreed on.

Dorothea sighed, handing her one last dress to try on. Edelgard had struggled to get the dress on and when she went to get help, Dorothea was nowhere to be found. She walked back to the fitting rooms to change back into her clothes and when she walked out, Dorothea appeared out of breath.

“Where were you?” Edelgard asked with a low whisper.

“Uh, nowhere in particular,” Dorothea lied, avoiding eye contact.

“Dorothea,” Edelgard glared.

“Don’t worry about it! It’s my little surprise,” her voice got shakier and higher.

After a stare down, Edelgard dropped the matter.

“Anyway, did you find a dress?” Dorothea asked with a smile.

Edelgard showed her the dress she liked.

Dorothea’s face became red. It was the dress she loved most. “I knew you would love that one!”

“The only problem is that this dress is one size too small,” she sighed.

“Oh, did I accidentally give you the wrong size,” Dorothea giggled.

Edelgard knew that was a lie.

Dorothea took the one Edelgard had and went to go grab the right size.

Edelgard tried the dress on, it was much easier to fit. She slowly walked out of the fitting room, waddling in a circle to show her what she looked like.

Dorothea’s mouth was a gap, she had no words.

“Wha-What,” Edelgard asked nervously.

“No-Nothing,” Dorothea said, standing behind her. “You look absolutely stunning, my love,” she said, showing her how to fix her hair in the mirror.

“I guess this will suffice.” Edelgard smiled.

“It’s more than enough! You can go to a ball in this dress or you can give speeches in it. Or—” Dorothea winked.

“Dorothea,” Edelgard yelled, her face burning up.

All Dorothea could do was laugh uncontrollably. When she was done, she gave her a kiss before taking Edelgard’s arm. They walked around the town, shopping for accessories that would match Edelgard’s new outfits before they went to a bakery. As they drew closer to the building, Edelgard smelled strong, rich chocolate and cinnamon. When they walked inside, and when Edelgard saw the freshly baked cake on the counter, tears rolled down her face. It smelled like the mornings she would spend with her sister on her birthday.

“Edie, is everything okay?” Dorothea asked, her voice shaking.

Edelgard took the palms of her hands to wipe her tears away. “It smells like my sister’s cake. How is this possible?”

Dorothea gave her a small, soft smile. “While we were dancing, I saw this bakery. And when you were trying on clothes, I snuck out to see if they knew anything about it and I was in luck! They did! I asked if they could make it for you!”

Edelgard sighed and gave her a kiss. “Thank you, my love.”

“Hehehehe, you’re welcome! Let’s eat it before it gets cold,” Dorothea said, kissing her back.

They both were given one piece of cake, devouring it in seconds, leaving the bakery soon after. They spent the rest of the night in silence. They shopped around some more, stopping at a flower shop to buy a bouquet of Forget-Me-Nots. When they got back to the Imperial Palace, they went straight to the graveyard to place the bouquet on Edelgard’s sister’s grave. Dorothea broke their long silence to hum them a song before her beloved wife decided it was time to go to bed. Edelgard wrapped her arms around Dorothea’s waist and placed her head on her chest, listening to her steady heartbeat. Dorothea continued to hum a song until they both fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahh, I was able to participate in A Brighter Dawn: An Edelthea Zine!! I'm so happy that I was able to! We were given the go ahead to post my full piece! I had so much fun being able to write this piece and for one of my fave FE3H ships!
> 
> Leftover sale is going on now: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BlackEagleZineForce?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=967116396


End file.
